


Red-Rimmed Eyes

by tinyscales



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 02:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30014556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyscales/pseuds/tinyscales
Summary: “Reggie?”Regulus was sat on the counter by the sinks, his back to the tiled wall and his knees pulled up to his chest. He was still wearing his kit from the match, still damp from rain and dirty from mud. When he looked up at James, his cheeks flushed and he rubbed at his red-rimmed eyes with his sleeve.“What are you doing here?” He asked, his voice hoarse.
Relationships: Regulus Black/James Potter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 65





	Red-Rimmed Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> I just really wanted to write something about James finding Regulus crying.

James pushed open the doors to the quidditch changing rooms with a weary sigh. His muscles still ached from a particularly physical match against Slytherin, one the Gryffindor team had managed to win by the skin of their teeth. How he wished he were back in his dorm, neck-deep in a piping hot bath. But he’d left his tights behind while changing and they were his last decent pair so he’d had to make the long, cold journey back down to the pitch. It was either that or he’d have to borrow Marlene’s and he just didn’t think he had the figure for it.

His tights were easy to spot, wedged down the back of one of the benches surrounded by wads of gum and various stains of various origins. He picked them up, shook them out, then paused. He was sure he was alone - his teammates long gone, most likely off celebrating their hard-won victory - yet there was a muffled sniffing noise coming from somewhere behind him. James turned towards the bathrooms and frowned; someone was in there, crying. Concern marring his features, he pushed through the door and stopped in his tracks.

“Reggie?”

Regulus was sat on the counter by the sinks, his back to the tiled wall and his knees pulled up to his chest. He was still wearing his kit from the match, still damp from rain and dirty from mud. When he looked up at James, his cheeks flushed and he rubbed at his red-rimmed eyes with his sleeve.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, his voice hoarse.

James held up his tights in explanation; said nothing else. Just stared at Regulus’ shrinking form, like he was trying to make himself smaller, less seen. A match sparked inside James, lighting a fire that forced him forward.

“What happened? Who upset you?” He demanded as he reached the counter.

“No one. It’s nothing.”

“You’re crying on your own in the bathroom. That hardly counts as ‘nothing’.”

When Regulus offered him little else, James took him by the knees and spun him until he was sitting with his legs hanging off the counter. James settled himself between them until the two boys were chest to chest. Reaching up, he cupped Regulus’ damp cheeks with his hands.

“If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine. But I hope you know you _can_ tell me. Anything at all, anything you want. I’m always here to listen, Reggie,” He earnestly said, gazing into Regulus’ eyes, “And if you don’t want to talk we can always - I don’t know - cuddle or something? I don’t want you on your own when you’re all upset. You can always come to me - is what I’m saying.”

Regulus had stopped crying but his eyes still looked raw and sad. He managed a smile, though, and just enough humour to mutter, “Cuddle or something?”

James stroked Regulus’ cheeks with his thumbs, “Don’t make fun - that’s my job.”

“You sound like Sirius whenever Remus so much as grazes his knee.”

“I’m trying to be a good boyfriend here!”

“You’re being a very good boyfriend,” Regulus quietly assured, then leaned it.

Their kiss was brief and familiar, a soft slide of lips that comforted both boys. Gently, Regulus pressed his forehead to James’. He closed his eyes and took some slow, calming breaths.

“I feel a little better now,” He said.

James smiled and kissed him again.

After Regulus had hopped down from the counter, James filled a sink and helped him wash his face. He looked much more himself once the redness had been chased from his skin. Taking some paper towels from the dispenser, he tried his best to dry Regulus’ face as tenderly as possible.

“It was those two new beaters on your team,” Regulus faintly admitted once James was done.

“Huh?” He asked, tossing the used towels into the bin with all the precision expected of Gryffindor’s greatest chaser.

“The people that upset me,” Regulus clarified, “They said some things about me after the match. Things I don’t care to repeat. It seems silly now, to have gotten myself so worked up about it.”

James felt a flicker of anger inside him but quelled it for the time being. “I don’t think you were being silly at all.”

Regulus shook his head fondly, “Of course you’d say that.”

Taking each other by the hand, the pair left the changing room and started back towards the school.

“I have to ask,” James said, keeping close to Regulus ‘for warmth’, “Because when I get back to the common room I’m going to unleash hell. Now, did you make up this entire thing so that I’d kick the beaters off the team and you’d have a better chance of winning against us next year?”

Grinning wickedly, James detached himself from Regulus and ducked out of the way just in time to miss a swipe from the younger boy.

“I swear to Merlin, James Potter you are the _worst_!”

It was a challenge to avoid the hexes being thrown his way as the two ran back up the path toward the castle but the smile on Regulus’ face and the laughter erupting from his chest made it all worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Come hang out on tumblr 🐍 [@babie-snakes](https://babie-snakes.tumblr.com/) 🐍


End file.
